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I have
been looking at a number of different low-cost file servers for workgroups and
small businesses. Unfortunately, none of them really measure up to the task,
either in terms of reliability, ease of use, or simplicity of operations. The
products include the Ximeta NetDisk Office, Linksys NSLU2, and the Iogear Boss.
Each has some great ideas, but none are well thought out to make a complete
product.
The
Iogear unit is a complete file-server-in-a-box. It comes with its own
firewall/router/four port hub and hard drive. (Two models are available, one
with 120 GB for $400 and one with 200 GB for $500.) The trouble is reliability.
In torture tests at a local non-profit office, users got read/write errors when
they were saving documents on the unit. That is not good news. The overall fit
and finish of the product was somewhat cheap, and the way the hard drive is
mounted inside the unit isn't well designed. All in all, I didn't have a lot of
confidence, especially after my first unit arrived with a broken cable. The
firewall features are somewhat basic and I would hesitate using this as my only
protection from the big bad Internet at large, but still I give them points for
including something here. What I did like was that setup for sharing files took
very little time and effort, once the included hard drive was formatted. (Why
not pre-format the drive? That's what I mean about fit and finish.) The unit
shares files for both Macs and Windows.
http://iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&product_id=645
Ximeta's
NetDisk Office has both the server and an 8-port Ethernet switch in one package
for $300, but can't be used as a firewall/router. My first unit arrived with a
bad power supply. Once that was fixed, the unit seemed solid. The biggest
difference between the Boss and the NetDisk was the latter requires special
software to set it up as a server, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS
X. The 120 GB drive comes
pre-formatted with NTFS, which means that Windows before 2000 and Mac and Linux
will need to reformat the drive with FAT32. Unlike the Boss which uses standard
network file shares, the NetDisk software must be loaded on each client on the
network before they can share files on the unit. The vendor claims this is a
feature, rather than an obstacle. I disagree and think anytime you introduce
something new into a network, especially a small workgroup that isn't likely to
have much in the way of end-user support, you are asking for trouble.
http://www.ximeta.com/products/netdiskoffice.php
The third
unit that I tried is from Linksys, and it is the oddest of the trio. It doesn't
come with its own storage unit, but has two USB v2 ports that you can connect
anything from a USB memory stick
to an external hard drive (Linksys has a special promotion going with
Maxtor right now for their excellent hard drives) depending on your storage
needs. Think of it as an Ethernet to USB converter. While this has some appeal
in terms of flexibility, it adds an extra configuration step to the process.
And for less than $100 (plus the cost of the storage), this could be the least
expensive of the three options. Linksys also makes its own network-attached
storage unit, the EFG250, but I haven't had a chance to examine that unit yet.
http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=35&prid=640
None of
these three compare with what I consider the product champion of small business
servers, the EmergeCore IT-in-a-Box unit. But the EmergeCore product is more
than $1000, so the price point makes it out of reach of the smaller shops. Of
course, for this amount of dough you also get an email server and a complete
Web platform, not just for sharing files. EmergeCore just started shipping a
new version that has removable and redundant disk drives, which makes it more
appealing from a security and reliability perspective. (www.emergecore.com)
One option that I didn't explore here was just buying an inexpensive PC and setting it up as a server. After all, for a few hundred dollars more than these products you can get an entire computer these days. That may be the best option, but then you have to resist the temptation to just use the PC as another workstation.
This is
an area that is ripe for further innovation, and for better quality and
reliability. I don't want an el cheapo file server that is going to conk out on
my users. I want something that will work easily into their existing network,
and allow me to set up quick and simple back up routines so their files are
protected and I actually have a chance at sleeping soundly knowing that I
recommended the right system. But maybe that isn't possible at the sub-$500
level right now.
Entire contents copyright 2004 by David Strom, Inc.
David Strom, dstrom@cmp.com, +1 (516) 562-7151
Port Washington NY 11050
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